GO Bond: Which Transportation Projects Will Get Funded?

Mayor Michael Hancock’s administration will ask Denver voters to approve a bond package worth $550 to $600 million in November, and the mayor has given some love to what he calls “transportation and mobility” projects.

Exactly what that means remains to be seen. Here’s a look at the type of projects that are on the table, and the process that will dictate what makes the cut for what’s known colloquially as the “GO bond,” or general obligation bond.

There are 95 projects under the transportation and mobility header

And the majority of them relate to transit, walking, and biking infrastructure. The ratio is squishy, because some projects include elements that are good for pedestrians — like widening sidewalks — as well as elements that create hostile environments for biking and walking — like widening Quebec Street to induce speeding and increase crossing distances.

Projects like these are competing with mid-20th-century transportation concepts, like the Quebec Street widening and the expansion of 56th Avenue from Havana Street to Peña Boulevard.

Mundane but necessary maintenance projects like street paving and bridge rehabilitation also made the list.

The competition

While Hancock has publicly guaranteed a “significant portion” of the bond for transportation and mobility, that category is competing with other capital projects, like new libraries, police stations, and rec centers. The tally for potential projects outside of the transportation and mobility category stands at 136.

Who decides what gets funded? How and when?

More than 60 mayoral appointees, broken into five committees — transportation, safety, city-owned facilities, parks and rec, and arts and culture — will deliberate over the next few months. They’ll finalize their preferred lists in May, based on project readiness, cost, and socioeconomic and geographic equity. Then they’ll hand over the lists to an executive committee, which will make recommendations to Hancock. The City Council will have to approve the projects before sending them to the ballot in November.

Former Colorado Department of Transportation director Don Hunt chairs the transportation group. Hunt was a big proponent of widening I-70 during his tenure. Here’s what he told the Denver Post in 2015, when asked whether Colorado needs more highway capacity given the availability of transit, walking, and biking. “There’s some truth to it if you isolate the facts. But when you look at the impact of walking, bicycling and transit on the overall travel in the north and south Front Range, it is minute at this point.”

Stewart Tucker Lundy, an advocate for disabled Denverites, is the co-chair. Advocates for walking, biking, transit, the disabled community, and affordable housing are also on the committee — including reps from WalkDenver, Bicycle Colorado, Transportation Solutions, RTD, Groundwork Denver, and the Downtown Denver Partnership.

Pickleball’s sort of a tennis/table tennis/badminton (?) hybrid. Extremely popular in senior rec programs, and it looks really fun. Good exercise and social interaction with low risk of injury, and the cost of adding more courts is probably just painting some more lines and buying more balls and paddles. I’m in favor of this budget line item.

TakeFive

I’ll be darned; I had no clue. Thanks and if it’s good enough for you to support then I’ll give it a thumbs up too.

EMB

Not sure I’ve done anything to inspire that much trust! Also, if the pickleball courts turn out to be more along the lines of a stadium than paint/paddles/maybe some concrete, I reserve the right to revise my opinion.

I’m not saying I wouldn’t support a large-capacity pickleball stadium, but I’d rather it not share a budget with all this other stuff. Clearly we want a public-private partnership for that, complete with naming rights that Vlasic and Claussen can fight over.

TakeFive

LOL @ the epic battle of Vlasic v Claussen. I’ll be sitting in the Claussen seats.

TakeFive

Top of the list by a mile has to be the East Colfax BRT project.

acerttr250

Here is what will happen. A few lipstick projects for biking and walking…And a whole lotta road building. We continue to drink the koolaid.

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